The purpose of this Bill is
to continue the operation of the Import Processing Charges Act
1997 after it is repealed and to clarify the amount of
self-assessed declaration charge that is payable in respect of
reportable documents.

FINANCIAL
IMPACT STATEMENT

This Bill has no financial
impact. Although the continued application of the Import
Processing Charges Act 1997 will result in higher revenue
collection than if the Import Processing Charges Act 2001 were in
operation, the higher charges reflect the higher costs to Customs
in continuing to operate the old IT systems until the trading
community is ready to use the new Integrated Cargo
System.

IMPORT PROCESSING CHARGES
(AMENDMENT AND REPEAL) BILL 2002

NOTES ON
CLAUSES

Clause 1 - Short
title

This clause provides for
the Act, when enacted, to be cited as the Import Processing
Charges (Amendment and Repeal) Act 2002.

Clause 2 -
Commencement

Subclause (1) provides that
each provision of this Act specified in column 1 of the table in
that subclause commences or is taken to have commenced on the day
or at the time specified in column 2 of the table.

Item 1 of the table
provides that sections 1 to 3 and anything in this Act not
elsewhere covered by this table commence on the day on which this
Act receives the Royal Assent.

Item 2 of the table
provides that section 4 commences on the earlier of:

- the
commencement of section 5 of this Act; and

- the
commencement of section 6 of this Act.

Section 4 contains
definitions for the purposes of sections 5 and 6 of the Act.
The definitions will commence when section 5 or 6 commences,
whichever is the earlier.

Item 3 of the table
provides that section 5 commences immediately after the
commencement of item 62 of Schedule 3 to the Customs Legislation
Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002 . Section 5 continues the
operation of the Import Processing Charges Act 1997 after it
is repealed.

Item 4 of the table
provides that section 6 commences at the same time as the
commencement of item 1 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Legislation
Amendment and Repeal (International Trade Modernisation) Act
2001 . Section 6 continues the operation of the Import
Processing Charges Act 1997 for the purposes of charging cargo
report processing charge during the moratorium periods.

Item 5 of the table
provides that section 7 commences on the earlier of:

- the
commencement of section 5 of this Act; and

- the
commencement of section 6 of this Act.

Section 7 imposes charges
for the purposes of section 5 and 6 of this Act.

Item 6 of the table
provides that Schedule 1 commences on the later of:

Subclause (2) provides that
column 3 of the table is for additional information that is not
part of this Act. This information may be included in any
published version of this Act.

Clause 3 -
Schedule(s)

This clause is the formal
enabling provision for the Schedule to the Bill, providing that
each Act specified in a Schedule is amended in accordance with the
applicable items of the Schedule. In this Bill the Import
Processing Charges Act 2001 is being amended.

The clause also provides
that the other items of the Schedules have effect according to
their terms. This is a standard enabling clause for
transitional, savings and application items in amending
legislation.

This clause
continues the operation of the IPC Act 1997 in certain
circumstances after it has been repealed.

The Trade
Modernisation Act repeals the IPC Act 1997. It was intended
that the IPC Act 1997 would be repealed at the same time that the
Trade Modernisation Act made substantial amendments to import
reporting/entry processes (Parts 2 and 6 of the Trade Modernisation
Act refer). It was also intended that the repeal and the new
processes would commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation and
if the provisions were not Proclaimed, they would commence
automatically 2 years after the Trade Modernisation Act received
the Royal Assent.

Many
provisions of the Trade Modernisation Act depend directly or
indirectly on the introduction of Customs new cargo management
computer system. The 2 year proclamation period was to allow
sufficient time for the trading community to be ready for the
procedural and computer system changes. Since the Trade
Modernisation Act was enacted it has become apparent that industry
would not be in a position to implement its computer system changes
by July 2003. The Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No.
1) 2002 will extend the time in which those provisions can be
Proclaimed to commence to 3 years to allow the trading community
the extra time it would need to be ready.

For
Constitutional reasons it was not possible to amend the Trade
Modernisation Act to extend the time in which the IPC Act 1997 can
be repealed. That is, it will still be repealed 2 years after
the Trade Modernisation Act received the Royal Assent, if it is not
Proclaimed to commence earlier.

This causes a
problem because the substantive provisions that make people liable
to pay the charges set out in the IPC Act 1997 may continue to
operate for another year after the IPC Act 1997 is repealed.

This item
ensures that if the IPC Act 1997 is repealed (that is Schedule 4 to
the Trade Modernisation Act has commenced) and at that time, not
all of the import reporting/entry processes (that is Parts 2 and 6
of Schedule 3 to the Trade Modernisation Act) have commenced, then
the IPC Act 1997 continues to apply as if it had not been
repealed. This application will continue to operate until all
of the import reporting/entry processes amendments have
commenced.

Clause 6 -
Continued application of Charges Act during moratorium
period

The IPC Act
1997 provides that cargo report processing charge is imposed and
sets out the amount of that charge. That charge is only
payable in respect of documentary cargo reports (section 64ABB of
the Customs Act).

Under new section 64AB as
inserted by the Trade Modernisation Act, cargo reporters will be
required to make electronic cargo reports. However, new
subsections 64AB(12) and (13) provide that during the six month
period after the section commences (the general moratorium period)
reports can be made by document. Further, under subsections
64AB(12) and (14) documentary reports can be made during the
further moratorium period (not being more than 18 months), if the
CEO grants a cargo reporter such a period.

Since documentary cargo
reports will only be able to be made for a maximum of 2 years after
the commencement of new section 64AB, the Trade Modernisation Act
also repeals section 64ABB. Hence under the amendments that
will be made by the Trade Modernisation Act cargo report processing
charge will not be payable in respect of documentary cargo reports
made during the general and further moratorium periods.

Item 67 of Schedule 3 to
the Customs Legislation Amendment Act (No. 1) 2002 provides
that cargo report processing charge will still be payable during
those moratorium periods.

Subclauses 6(1) and (2)
make consequential amendments so that the IPC Act 1997 continues to
apply, during those moratorium periods.

Subclause 6(3) makes it
clear that sections 5 and 6 do not limit the effect of each
other.

Clause 7 -
Imposition of charges

This item
imposes, to the extent necessary to give effect to sections 5 and 6
of this Bill, the charges of the kind mentioned in section 4 of the
IPC Act 1997 are imposed.

Schedule 1 - Amendment of the
Import Processing Charges Act 2001

Item 1 -
Paragraph 5(2)(a)

Subsection 5(2) of the Import Processing
Charges Act 2001 prescribes the charges for self-assessed
clearance (“SAC”) declarations.
Self-assessed clearance declarations provide information to Customs
about goods not requiring entry. Each reportable document
requires its own self-assessed clearance declaration. The
current wording of subparagraph 5(2)(a) provides for a
‘rolled-up’ charge for a self-assessed clearance
declaration that is made by a cargo reporter in respect of
twenty-one or more reportable documents. This implies that a
SAC declaration can be for more than one reportable document which
is not the case.

This item makes it clear that the rolled-up
charge is for twenty-one or more self-assessed clearance
declarations in respect of reportable documents.